Downgrade an iPhone App

Updating and upgrading your iPhone and iPod touch apps can be a daily ritual. Especially if you have a large quantity of apps.

Unfortunately, not all updates are created equal. Sometimes an app's update brings on a world of suck and pain. Or, you just don't like the way the update looks and behaves. Before you delete the app, or worse, throw your iPhone in disgust at the nearest developer, you can downgrade your app back to the way you like it.

Find the offending app. Click to embiggen.

1. Navigate to the Mobile Applications folder. Music>iTunes>Mobile Applications. Make sure you have a previous version of the app. If you just purchased the app, you won't have the previous versions.

Move that APP! Click to embiggen.

2. Remove the update in question to the desktop, or anywhere else on the Mac besides the Mobile Applications folder. Quit and restart iTunes. Drag the older version of the app to the iTunes library. You may be confronted with a dialog dox warning you you are replacing an app with an older version. That's exactly what you want to do.

Goodbye iNetwork Test. For now...

3. Delete the app from your iPhone. Note: Any saved data will be lost when you downgrade. Your iPhone warns you of this. Be wary of which app you decide to downgrade, how much data it stores, and if you're comfortable losing it.

Reinstall to the good ol' days. Click to embiggen.

4. Attach your iPhone to iTunes, navigate to the Applications tab in iTunes and add a check next to the app in question to have it reinstalled. Click apply and sync your iPhone.

Before and after. Bug fixes be damned! Cick to embiggen.

5. iTunes will reinstall the app on your iPhone. You can now go back to your app using ways without all those fancy updates and bug fixes.

Next time you check for app updates, iTunes will present you with the newest version of the app you downgraded. To continue your old-school app-using ways, instead of clicking "Download All Free Updates," just download the apps you want individually.